The long pause in the work of the six-party talks is counter-productive and entails increasing tensions and destabilization in the region, Russia’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea says

North Korea, Pyongyang

MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. The pause in the six-party talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has been too long, Russia’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Alexander Timonin told TASS on Monday.

This may increase tensions and destabilize the region, he added.

"Russia consistently follows the opinion that there is no alternative to political and diplomatic settlement of the nuclear issue and other problems on the Korean Peninsula," Timonin, who served as Russia’s Ambassador to North Korea in 2012-2014, said. "The six-party talks are an optimal and sustainable format that allows bringing all interested parties to the negotiating table, to discuss and solve pressing issues related to the nuclear sphere," he noted.

"Our partners, including the Republic of Korea, share this approach," Timonin said.

"It becomes obvious that the long pause in the work of the six-party talks is counter-productive and entails increasing tensions and destabilization in the region," the diplomat added. "That is why the Russian side emphasizes the importance of continuing the six-party talks based on principles announced by China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea [DPRK] , Russia, the Republic of Korea, the US and Japan on 19 September 19, 2005," he stressed.

"It is true that DPRK and South Korea are at the same time very much alike and very different," Timonin said. "Both countries are part of one nation that seeks to normalize relations between the North and the South, develop peaceful cooperation and, in the end, to unite," he said.